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Renowned for clean-energy tech, the billionaire seems to be at one now with super-emitters and far-right global climate deniers

Elon Musk was once lauded as a sort of green Tony Stark – the genius inventor who leads a double life as superhero Iron Man – for single-handedly tackling the climate crisis one Tesla at a time, helping to forge a clean energy future and pushing for new taxes to drive down fossil fuel use.

But the climate credentials of the world’s richest person have become clouded by his embrace of rightwing politicians, some of whom dismiss global heating, as well as by his management of X, formerly known as Twitter, during which many climate scientists have fled the platform amid a proliferation of misinformation about the climate crisis.

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Research shows impact from lifestyles and investments of likes of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk

• Introduction: the great carbon divide
• Richest 1% account for more carbon emissions than poorest 66%

Twelve of the world’s wealthiest billionaires produce more greenhouse gas emissions from their yachts, private jets, mansions and financial investments than the annual energy emissions of 2m homes, research shared exclusively with the Guardian reveals.

The tycoons include the Amazon boss, Jeff Bezos, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the tech billionaires Bill Gates, Larry Page and Michael Dell, the inventor and social media company owner Elon Musk and the Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim.

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‘Polluter elite’ are plundering the planet to point of destruction, says Oxfam after comprehensive study of climate inequality

• Introduction: the great carbon divide
• Twelve billionaires’ emissions equal to fuelling 2.1m homes

The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency, a report says.

The most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken shows that this elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019 – enough to cause more than a million excess deaths due to heat, according to the report.

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*PREMIUM LISTING - We are looking for an experienced Feature Writer/Sub-Editor based in North America to help us bolster and expand our coverage of carbon and other environmental markets.

*PREMIUM LISTING - Carbon Pulse is seeking a Biodiversity Correspondent based in Europe.

Macquarie launches new Australian-based onshore renewables business, with an initial project pipeline of 4 gigawatts of wind, solar and storage projects, and plans to build much more.

The post Macquarie launches new renewables business with 4GW of wind, solar and battery projects appeared first on RenewEconomy.

A new approach to deciding which areas get selected for protection can save almost twice as many mammals from extinction globally, a study has found, with more than half of the most crucial habitat located in just seven countries.

Imagine the year is 2030. You are walking down your street. Your local newsletter just announced that your community is now running on 100% renewable energy.

The post The future of energy is community energy, and 100 per cent renewable appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Rooftop and utility scale solar set new records in Australia's main grid, as coal output from the country's biggest coal state also sent to a new low.

The post Solar smashes more records, as coal power sent to another new low appeared first on RenewEconomy.

W.A. to invest $708 million in new transmission projects - its biggest investment in the grid for than a decade - to kick start 10-fold increase in new wind and solar capacity.

The post W.A. bulks up transmission to pave way for 10-fold lift in wind and solar appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The remarkable story of Captain Don Walsh and his 11km journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

‘My hope is that the viewer will pause, slow down and take notice. Pay attention to the small, magical things that are happening within each one of the images on these pages and find your own place within them. There we can meet in silence—be still, and watch with wonder.’ - Palani Mohan palanimohan.com.

The book Watch in Wonder is published by Hong Kong University press and the images are on display at the Blue Lotus gallery, Hong Kong, 17 November till 10 December 2023.

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Earlier this year, the Norwegian artist and photographer Tine Poppe stumbled across a Ted Talk about the environmental impact of the cut flowers industry. In her series Gilded Lilies she sets these flowers against scenery around the world. ‘The backdrops create an illusion of the flowers having been documented in their natural habitat,’ she says, ‘but the viewer will notice that something is off at a second glance.’ The flowers in the portraits are genetically engineered examples of their species, grown in industrial scale greenhouses and transported on long-haul flights. ‘I hope to convey a sense of our planet’s mortality,’ she says.

• See more at Tine Poppe’s Instagram profile

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The rocket's flight was again cut short because of technical issues, but previous problems were fixed.

The vehicle's maiden flight in April ended when it exploded four minutes after leaving the ground.

Many of the chemicals being spread as sewage sludge are untested or can’t be assessed. That’s why I’m suing for answers

It’s an experiment with 8 billion test subjects, no controls and no endpoint. What happens when you release thousands of novel chemicals, most of which have not been tested for their impacts on human health or ecosystems, into a living planet? What are the effects on the development of foetuses, on human brains, other organs, immune systems, cancer rates, fertility? What are they doing to other species and to Earth systems? We seem determined to find out the hard way.

The gap between our actions and our knowledge is astounding. Of the 350,000 registered synthetic chemicals, about a third are impossible to assess, as their composition is either “confidential” or “ambiguously described”. For most of the rest, deployment comes first, testing later. For instance, the health and environmental impacts of 80% of the chemicals registered in the European Union have yet to be assessed. And the EU is as good as it gets. Our own government, as one of the benefits of Brexit, has just decided to downgrade the safety information chemical companies have to provide to an “irreducible minimum”.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

A Canadian law professor argued in an op-ed Friday that the federal Liberal government’s carbon pricing carve-out for home heating oil could “imperil” the legality of the carbon price in itself, while other legal experts rebut the arguments.

Temperature records crumbled across the world this year, raising questions over the pace of global warming.

Compliance entities preferred current year vintage California Carbon Allowances (CCAs) and increased their length, while financial players opted for next year's CCA vintage and decreased their net length, and both shed RGGI Allowances (RGAs) and Washing Carbon Allowances (WCAs), US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed Monday.